The Best 27-Inch Monitor

After spending 35 hours researching 18 big, high-resolution monitors and testing six finalists, we recommend the 27-inch HP Z27n for most people. Its out-of-the-box measurements are phenomenal, it has a bevy of useful features including a USB 3.0 hub and a highly adjustable stand, and its slim bezels make the screen look even larger. It’s an excellent choice for anyone who wants to upgrade to a larger monitor. (If you’re looking for a 4K monitor, we have another guide for that.)

Last Updated:
Seven months ago

Our previous top pick, while still available, has been discontinued. We tested six new monitors to find our new top pick, the HP Z27n, and runner-up, the Dell UltraSharp U2717D. We expected the U2717D to be our pick, but the HP’s faster pixel response time and higher contrast ratio won us over. We’ve also removed our 4K monitor pick, since we now have a separate guide to 4K monitors.

Nine months ago:
We’ve finished our latest round of testing, and have confirmed that Dell’s U2717D will be our new top pick for 27-inch monitor. The HP Z27n will be our new runner-up, and the current runner-up—BenQ’s GW2765HT—will become a budget option. We’ll update this guide with our full thoughts in the new year.

11 months ago:
Dell has discontinued the U2715H, though it’s still available at Amazon and other places. We’re testing its replacement, the U2717D, alongside a few other new monitors, and we will update this guide soon.

One year ago:
The Dell UltraSharp U3415W is our new favorite ultrawide monitor. It has a 21:9, 3440×1440 display with accurate colors, and it can even work with multiple computers at the same time.

Two years ago:
There are plenty of new, big monitors on the way from all the major manufacturers: new "InfinityEdge" monitors from Dell, USB-C monitors with built-in webcams from Lenovo, gold-painted USB-C monitors and a new curved display with customized lighting effects from Acer, new curved FreeSync monitors from Samsung, and a hodgepodge of different monitors from LG. Be sure to check out our What to look forward to section for everything we learned from this year's CES.

Two years ago:

To maximize your warranty coverage, you'll want to buy the U2715H from Dell or an authorized retailer. If you purchase the monitor from an auction site, Craigslist, or sketchy retailer, you might not get all three years of your warranty—an unwelcome surprise if you ever have any issues with your monitor. Dell details out a number of different warranty scenarios on its website, which are worth going over before you buy your monitor.

Two years ago:
Our new pick is the $549 Dell UltraSharp U2715H, which replaces our previous top pick, the now-discontinued Dell UltraSharp U2713HM. The Dell U2715H has better picture quality out of the box than any other monitor we tested. Our runner-up pick is the $400 BenQ GW2765HT, which is $150 less than our main pick but doesn’t have a USB hub or DisplayPort output and isn’t as color-accurate. If you’re looking for more screen space, we recommend LG's 34-inch Ultrawide 34UM95, and if you’re certain you want a 4k monitor, the Dell UltraSharp P2715Q is our pick. However, a 4k monitor still doesn’t make sense for most Windows users right now.

Two years ago:
We're in the process of testing new monitors and updating our pick. If you can't wait, Dell's UltraSharp U2715H ($560) is a strong contender. TFT Central notes that it's just as adjustable and good-looking as our previous pick, the UltraSharp U2713HM, and it comes with a number of new improvements: a new ultraslim bezel, better anti-glare coating, a flicker-free backlight, and slightly better input lag (for the twitchiest of gamers). DVI and VGA connections are gone, but you now get two HDMI connections, one Mini DisplayPort, a DisplayPort in, a DisplayPort out (for daisy-chaining monitors together), and five USB 3.0 connections instead of the U2713HM's four.

Two years ago:
Our main pick has been discontinued, so we're setting this guide to wait status while we work on an update.

Three years ago:
Lots of new 4K and 5K monitors are coming out this year, and they look great. We're even starting to see some discrete desktop graphics cards support HDMI 2.0 (and one sub-$1,000, 4K IPS monitor too). Windows 8.1 and third-party apps still have some trouble with high-resolution displays, and you'll need a high-specced system to play games at top quality. We're apprehensive about 4K displays, but more interested than we were a year ago.
Also, Dell replaced our current 2560×1440 pick with the very similar U2715H. According to TFT Central, it performs as well as the U2713HM, but it comes with an ultraslim bezel, a better stand, an extra HDMI and Mini DisplayPort connection (but no DVI), and improved display lag. If you can't find our current pick, the U2715H is a great alternative.

Three years ago:
This year lots of big new high-resolution monitors are coming out, including some 4K and even 5K monitors that look really great. In the mean time, Dell has replaced our current 2560×1440 pick with the very similar U2713H, which has most of the same features, but adds a DisplayPort-out port for monitor daisy-chaining. It's a good choice if you need a great 2560×1440 monitor today, but if you're interested in a 4K monitor you should wait for one that supports DisplayPort 1.3 and HDMI 2.0, both of which are expected later this year.

The HP Z27n is the most color-accurate monitor we’ve tested. Its factory-calibrated 27-inch, 2560×1440-pixel screen makes it great for image editing, gaming, watching videos, and even office work and web browsing. It has a thin bezel around the top and sides of the screen, plenty of connection options (including a DVI port and DisplayPort out for connecting a second display), a USB 3.0 hub, and an ergonomic stand with a wide height-adjustment range that swivels, tilts, and pivots as well as any we’ve tested.

If the HP isn’t available, the Dell UltraSharp U2717D is a great alternative. Its color and grayscale reproduction are also excellent, although not as accurate as the Z27n or our previous pick (the U2717D’s predecessor, the Dell U2715H). Like our pick, the U2717D is factory-calibrated and has a highly adjustable stand, a USB 3.0 hub, and most of the same video connectors, minus a DVI port. A couple advantages: Two of the Dell’s USB 3.0 connectors are on the left side, so they’re more accessible than the HP’s, which are all on the back of the monitor and hard to access. And its bezels are even skinnier than the HP’s, which makes the screen look larger. However, the U2717D has a lower contrast ratio and a bit more lag than the Z27n (or the U2715H)—it’s still good enough for most gaming, but it’s not ideal for competitive fast-paced shooters.

The BenQ GW2765HT has fewer features than the HP or Dell, and the picture quality isn't quite as good, but it costs $120 less.

If you want to save some money, BenQ’s GW2765HT is a decent budget choice. This 27-inch IPS display isn’t as color-accurate as our pick or runner-up, and it’s a bit too bright at its lowest setting, but most people will have a hard time noticing the difference. BenQ’s monitor is about $120 cheaper than the HP or Dell, but it doesn’t have a USB hub or DisplayPort output. The buttons for navigating its onscreen display are on the back of the monitor, which makes them harder to use. But like our pick, the GW2765HT’s stand has excellent adjustability and VESA support. While our pick and runner-up are better monitors, the GW2765HT is a decent alternative, especially if price is a big factor. (Side note: Don’t be confused when Amazon says that the BenQ BL2711U is a newer version of this monitor. It isn’t. The BL2711U is a 4K professional display that’s overkill for normal people. Stick with the GW2765HT.)

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Why you should trust us

John Higgins has been reviewing televisions, computer peripherals and accessories, speakers, and computer games for Home Theater magazine (now Sound & Vision) since 2003. He also wrote the Tech Talk column for Channel Guide Magazine. Since the ‘90s he has built computers for himself and friends in his spare time.

David Murphy has tested everything from computer cases to network-attached storage in his decade-plus career as a tech journalist for Maximum PC, PCWorld, Computer Shopper, PCMag, Laptop Magazine, Tom’s Hardware, PC Gamer, IGN, and HotHardware (to name a few).

Who this is for

The same 1920×1200 image image displayed on a 24-inch 1920×1200 monitor (left) and a 27-inch 2560×1440 monitor (right). The black bars around the edges show you how much more usable screen space our pick gives you. Photos: David Murphy

If you need a big, beautiful, high-resolution monitor for work or play, this is the right guide for you. A large, high-resolution monitor can help you work more efficiently, since you can use multiple windows side by side. It’s also great for editing high-res photos or 1080p video, and the big picture is fantastic for all but hardcore gamers.

If you have a monitor that uses a TN panel (it’s worth a quick Google search to find out, though manufacturers don’t always specify), upgrading to our pick can give you much better color reproduction and wider viewing angles. Our pick also uses LEDs instead of CCFLs for its backlighting, so it’s thinner, more energy-efficient, and better with contrast than a CCFL-backlit display. If you have an old monitor you’ve been using for, say, five years or more, it’s time to switch to a more-energy-efficient, better-looking display.

Right now, a 27-inch, 2560×1440 IPS monitor is the sweet spot for a big monitor. It’s physically large enough to be able to see what you’re doing without without UI scaling but not so large that it completely takes over your desk. You can get a great 27-inch monitor for $450, while 2560×1600 30-inch monitors can be hundreds of dollars more expensive (and heavier and possibly too big for your desk space).

If you’re editing 4K photos or video or you just want a 4K screen and don’t mind some display scaling, check out our guide to the best 4K monitors. 4K monitors are the future, and they’re now good enough to recommend to many people, but 2560×1440 monitors are easier on your computer’s graphics card and don’t require scaling.

If you want more display space, you can get an ultrawide monitor. They’re expensive, but they have advantages over a two-monitor setup: You minimize cable clutter and avoid thick bezels in the middle of your viewing area. Ultrawide monitors are still expensive and niche, but we plan to cover them in future guides.

Hardcore and professional gamers may want something that can handle a higher refresh rate than our pick’s 60 Hz or a monitor that uses G-Sync or FreeSync to eliminate graphical anomalies and give you smoother gameplay. Pro gamers or first-person-shooter fanatics might even be willing to sacrifice our monitor’s higher-quality IPS panel for a TN panel with a faster refresh rate, since monitors using the latter can have extremely low lag. We assume that most amateur gamers, like us, prefer their games to look good.

Our pick is for the person who wants it all: A great picture, support for the latest connection types, a built-in USB 3.0 hub, an adjustable stand, and a lovely design. If you don’t care about some of these features (like USB hubs), there are cheaper 27-inch monitors that are still pretty good, but our pick’s factory-calibrated picture is one of the best you can get.

How we picked

We started by coming up with a list of criteria for a great monitor. Some are absolutes, like outstanding picture quality, a 27-inch minimum panel size, and a 2560×1440 (1440p) minimum resolution. Other criteria are optional—for example, it’s okay if a monitor doesn’t have a USB hub if it’s otherwise exceptional.

We looked for monitors with amazing picture quality, an easy-to-use on-screen display, a good selection of ports, and a stand that lets you raise, lower, tilt, swivel, and rotate the screen.

We picked the best-reviewed monitors from TFT Central, AnandTech, Tom’s Hardware, and PCMag.com. We also looked at the 20 best-selling monitors on Amazon and added any that fit our baseline criteria (27 inches, 1440p resolution). We also considered all monitors from major manufacturers that were available at the time. This gave us an initial list of 18 monitors in this round of testing, on top of the 33 we considered in mid-2016.

We excluded any monitor that had a TN panel instead of IPS. TN panels are cheaper, but they can’t display as many colors and have terrible viewing angles. We also cut any models that cost more than $600 because our research says that’s the most you really need to spend to get a great display with all the features you’re likely to use.1 We also cut anything that didn’t support both HDMI and DisplayPort, the two most modern display connection types.

How we tested

The Wirecutter’s Chris Heinonen (who did all the monitor reviews for AnandTech before joining The Wirecutter full time) helped us design our monitor testing process. We borrowed a $1,200 i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer from X-Rite that lets us measure colors much more accurately than a colorimeter. We also have one colorimeter—a $200 i1 Display Pro—because it’s better at reading black levels than the i1Pro 2, and we wanted to make sure we were getting a good contrast-ratio measurement.

We also built customized tests in the CalMAN 2016 software-calibration suite to measure each monitor in a few key areas:

We measured each monitor on its default settings, as well as in its sRGB (or “custom color”) mode where applicable.2 Since most people don’t change their monitor settings, and even fewer calibrate them, a monitor’s default performance is critical.

The i1Pro 2 spectrophotometer costs a small fortune, but it’s incredibly accurate. Photo: David Murphy

For testing, we adjusted each monitor’s brightness to 140 cd/m²—a good luminance value for everyday use—and set its contrast as high as it could go without losing white details. We left every other setting on its default value.

We also used each of our finalists for a few days, which included performing normal office work, watching movies, playing games, adjusting the position of the panel, using different display connections, and experimenting with the monitors’ options.

Our pick

The HP Z27n’s skinny top and side bezels make the screen look larger and mean there’s only a thin black strip separating the screens when two are placed side-by-side. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The Z27n has an amazing factory-calibrated display, a highly adjustable ergonomic stand, and plenty of display inputs and USB ports.

The HP Z27n is the best 27-inch monitor for most people because its out-of-the-box picture quality is exemplary, it has a variety of input connections, a USB 3.0 hub, and a thin bezel, and its stand is sturdy and highly adjustable. With amazing accuracy, good pixel response time and a better contrast ratio than anything else we tested, the Z27n edged out the competition for our top pick.

Monitor quality

The Z27n is the most color-accurate display we’ve measured, even better than our previous pick. Its color reproduction and grayscale tracking are virtually perfect thanks to excellent factory calibration; it gets dim enough and bright enough to work in nearly any lighting; and its contrast ratio of over 1,000:1 means dark scenes that contain bright elements won’t look washed out.

To track the accuracy of the monitor’s ability to display grayscale and colors, we look at the DeltaE 2000 numbers provided by the CalMAN 2016 software. These numbers show us how close the displayed color is to what it is supposed to be. A value of under 1.0 is near perfect. A value under 2.0 is sufficient for print production work—it’s difficult to detect a difference even with a perfect reference for comparison. At a value of 3.0, there is a visible difference between the monitor and a reference.

Tracking of the three primary (red, green, and blue) and secondary (cyan, magenta, and yellow) colors give a DeltaE 2000 value of just 0.52. Most colors are below the 1.0 threshold with only blue and green showing slight undersaturation above 96% brightness. In our Colorchecker test, which measures over 100 colors for accuracy, we measured an average DeltaE 2000 of 0.66. This kind of accuracy is unheard-of for a consumer monitor without aftermarket calibration, and it even beats our impressive previous pick, the Dell UltraSharp U2715H.

With Colorchecker measurements this accurate out of the box, our pick is ready for production image work (or just sitting back and enjoying the destruction of Starkiller Base). The green line represents a DeltaE 2000 value of 1.0.

The Z27n has a nearly perfect grayscale curve, with an average DeltaE 2000 score under 1.0.

Our grayscale test measures 256 points from full black (0%) to full white (100%). Across the spectrum, the Z27n has a DeltaE 2000 of just 0.89. The majority of the curve stays under 1.0, just touching 2.0 at around 10 percent brightness, meaning it’s precise enough for print production work even near its dimmest setting. The grayscale tracking also gives us our total gamma number at 2.46. Gamma is the relationship between the brightness of a pixel and a numerical value of voltage assigned to that pixel. It affects brightness, color saturation, and hue. A high gamma causes the picture to look dark and muddy, while low gamma makes the image look washed out. The Z27n is just above our target number of 2.4 (based on the 2.35 to 2.55 gamma range of CRT displays from yesteryear).

A good monitor should have a wide luminance range, so it can work well in dim rooms as well as bright ones. The Z27n’s full-white luminance ranges from 399 cd/m² (also known as nits) at its highest setting to 66 cd/m² at its lowest. The latter isn’t quite as low as we’d like—Chris Heinonen says great monitors should get down to 60 cd/m²—but it’s very close and shouldn’t cause eye fatigue in low lighting. (Our previous pick, the Dell U2715H, got down to 37 cd/m², and our runner-up beats even that at 34.5.) The Z27n’s luminance range means it can work in all but the very brightest and darkest rooms.

Luminance range also affects contrast ratio—the difference in relative brightness between a white (fully lit) screen and a black (unlit) screen at a given backlight level. In a display with a high contrast ratio, the bright parts of an image will pop and seem brilliant next to the darks, while a low contrast ratio will make the image seem flat and dull. The Z27n’s contrast ratio of 1,018:1 is excellent, and it means that white pixels are over a thousand times brighter than black ones at the same backlight level.

Connections and cables

The HP Z27n has an HDMI 1.4 input (which also supports MHL 2.0 for connecting mobile devices), a Mini DisplayPort 1.2 input, a DisplayPort 1.2 input, a dual-link DVI-D input, and a DisplayPort 1.2 output (for daisy-chaining a second monitor on a Windows system). HP includes both a standard DisplayPort cable and a Mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable.

The Z27n’s USB 3.0 hub includes a powered port for charging devices, but the rear placement can make the ports a chore to access regularly. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The four-port USB 3.0 hub next to the display connectors includes one 1.5 A port for charging devices. The USB ports, including the charging port, work even if the screen is off, as long as your computer is on. This is not true of all monitor USB hubs (like the one on our runner up), so it’s a nice touch.

The Z27n has no built-in speakers, but this isn’t necessarily a disadvantage because display speakers are generally appalling. It does have a 3.5 mm audio-output jack with enough power for HP’s speaker bar accessory, but we recommend good computer speakers if you have room on your desk, and good headphones if not.

Ergonomics and adjustability

If you sit at your computer for hours a day, you need a monitor that can be properly aligned to your sitting position: about arm’s length from your torso, tilted back slightly, with the top of the screen two to three inches above eye level. The Z27n’s stand is excellent, with a 45-degree swivel left and right, a tilt from -5 to 22 degrees from vertical, and 5 inches of play on its height adjustment, giving the top of the screen a maximum height of 20.9 inches from the surface of the desk. The monitor also pivots 90 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise to switch to portrait mode. The adjustment joints are tight enough that you never have to worry about the monitor moving from its set position. Other monitors we tested had stands that either didn’t have the same number of adjustments, or that would succumb to gravity over time.

The monitor easily adjusts up to five inches up or down—useful for getting the right height, or even if you just need to access its ports or grab that pesky pencil that rolled to the back of the desk. Video: Kyle Fitzgerald

The stand also has a quick-release button, so it is easy to remove if you want to VESA-mount the monitor to a wall or a monitor arm.

Design

The side and top bezels of the Z27n are just 9 millimeters thick. These narrow edges make the screen seem larger, and allow for a near-uninterrupted view if you use multiple monitors. The bottom bezel is thicker (18 mm) to accommodate touch-sensitive menu and power buttons. Some people prefer physical buttons, but we like how quickly these touch buttons work. And if they are a sticking point for you, all the settings found in the touch-button menus can be adjusted in the (Windows-only) HP Display assistant software. The app also gives more information about what you’re adjusting than the on-screen display does, and it includes some guidelines for modifying things like brightness and color saturation.

Not everyone likes touch-sensitive buttons, but the Z27n’s are fast enough (and easy enough to see) to outweigh any negatives. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

Warranty and support

HP provides a three-year standard limited warranty that covers defects in materials or workmanship. Under this warranty, HP will replace, repair, or refund the cost of the monitor, at the company’s discretion. The company also guarantees zero bright dots on the Z27n. If a sub-pixel (the red, green, or blue portion of a pixel) is stuck in the open position, letting backlight through consistently, it’s covered under the warranty. For dark sub-pixels—stuck blocking the backlight—the number jumps up to four before it’s covered, since black pixels are a lot less noticeable. HP offers two- and three-year next-business-day exchange service, but as a $25-to-$45 add-on package. (These plans are available through HP’s store even if you purchased from another company.) Our runner-up pick from Dell also has a zero-bright-dot policy, but Dell includes a three-year Advanced Exchange Service and will ship a replacement to you the next business day.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Surprisingly, we couldn’t find any reviews for HP’s Z27n monitor other than four customer reviews on Amazon. By contrast, the Dell U2717D has been reviewed by TFTCentral and PCMag.com and has 51 customer reviews on Amazon. But we think the superior color accuracy and contrast and faster response time puts the HP Z27n ahead of the Dell, and the lack of reviews isn’t a concern with a company as well established as HP. (An HP rep told us that the monitors group had no way to send out review units at all until we asked to borrow a Z27n, which partly explains the lack of reviews from other sites.)

It would be nice if the monitor came with a DVI cable alongside its Mini DisplayPort and DisplayPort cables, but DVI cables are cheap and easy to find, and DVI ports are less common on computers than they used to be. The DVI standard also carries only the video signal, so if you plan to use the monitor’s headphone jack, you’ll need to use DisplayPort or HDMI, which can carry audio and video.

The HP Display Assistant app is finicky and occasionally unresponsive, and it only works in Windows. It’s easy enough to restart if it crashes, and once the monitor is set up you won’t need to use it.

Setup, care, and maintenance

The HP Z27n out-of-the-box performance is absolutely fantastic, thanks to the aforementioned factory calibration. Even with an expensive hardware colorimeter, you’ll only get a tiny, imperceptible improvement from further calibration. That’s good, because almost nobody calibrates their monitor. Calibration can rescue a monitor with mediocre default accuracy, but unless you have access to the equipment already, it’s better to spend a little bit more up front to get a monitor that’s already calibrated.

What you should adjust is the display’s brightness control. Brightness is a subjective setting and dependent on the room lighting. The darker the environment, the lower the brightness you’ll want so you don’t fatigue your eyes too quickly. A dim screen in a bright room can also cause eye fatigue. Set the brightness level to what feels right to you. We set the Z27n’s Luminance setting to 25, which made it just a little brighter than our target 140 cd/m². We like that number, but you might find that you like a slightly dimmer image. (The recommended luminance for monitors in normal conditions is around 120 cd/m².)

Whatever monitor you buy, we recommend taking a look at your monitor’s manual and any included software to get a sense of what it can do. If there are defeatable image-enhancement settings, such as sharpness or dynamic contrast, we recommend disabling them. Each can add unwanted processing and lead to an unnatural-looking image. (Both of these settings are disabled by default on the Z27n.)

If your monitor has a DisplayPort output and you’re daisy-chaining monitors together, make sure DisplayPort 1.2 is enabled on the monitor. If it’s not, daisy-chaining won’t work—and some monitors run DisplayPort 1.1 mode by default. If your monitor supports it, also enable its DDC/CI setting (Display Data Channel Command Interface) so you can adjust its settings using a software app instead of its on-screen display.

If your monitor’s screen gets dirty or smudgy, don’t use an ammonia or alcohol-based cleaner to clean it (this means no Windex), and don’t use a paper towel. A microfiber cloth and some distilled (not tap) water will work just fine. And don’t spray the screen when cleaning it—spray the cloth, and then wipe the screen.

The Dell UltraSharp U2717D is a great alternative to the HP Z27n if the HP is sold out or too expensive. It’s nearly identical to the Z27n in most respects, from the ultra-slim side and top bezels to the sturdy adjustable stand (with the same degrees of freedom and angles of inflection) to the number of USB 3.0 ports—even a charging port. Like the HP, the Dell has a fantastic 27-inch 2560×1440 IPS screen with excellent image quality, though the U2717D isn’t quite as accurate and its response rate is a little slower. At the lowest brightness setting, it can get dimmer than the HP, but its contrast ratio doesn’t match the HP’s. Like our pick, the U2717D has a three-year warranty and a no-bright-dot guarantee, but Dell will ship a replacement out the next business day, while HP charges extra to add this option to its warranty.

Another advantage the Dell has over the HP is that the Dell has two USB 3.0 ports—one of them powered—on the left side in addition to the two in the rear. The side ports are more easily accessible and are great for thumb drives, charging cables, or anything that doesn’t need to stay connected.

The U2717D’s grayscale tracking is very similar to that of our top pick except at pure white, where the difference from reference starts to be visible.

The Dell’s grayscale and color measurements are admirable, but fall a little short of the HP’s. The Dell’s grayscale DeltaE 2000 average is fantastic at 0.94, with the curve exceeding 2.0 only at its very brightest. The Colorchecker and Saturation Sweep numbers also hover around 1.0—1.23 and 0.89 respectively—with blue being the only notably undersaturated color. Though not quite as good as the HP’s, these are still fantastic numbers and essentially perfect. Side by side with the Z27n, the color differences are unnoticable.

The Dell U2717D is a little less color-accurate than the HP Z27n, but it’s still excellent, and good enough for print production work.

Where the Dell does fall short, visibly, is in its contrast ratio. Most IPS monitors will hit a contrast ratio of 1,000:1 or better, but the Dell is a bit disappointing at 711:1. With regular day-to-day tasks, such as web-surfing and word processing, this won’t be as noticeable. But when watching dark scenes in a movie or playing a game that has moody atmospheric lighting—such as Bioshock, a favorite of mine—the diminished contrast is easy to see, with darks looking more gray than black.

Response time can be measured in couple different ways. One is to measure the time it takes for a pixel to change from black to white to black, but more often it is measured as gray-to-gray: the average of multiple measurements of transitioning from one shade of gray to another. TFTCentral ran its own set of tests to determine that the Dell’s response time is 8.7 ms, in line with Dell’s published numbers. When we looked at the U2717D and Z27n side by side using the Lagom LCD response time test, we found that the Dell was slightly slower than the HP. The difference is noticeable, especially in gaming, but unless you’re competitive in eSports, it won’t cause any issues.

The U2717D has almost the same array of connections as the Z27n: HDMI 1.4 (MHL 2.0), Mini DisplayPort, DisplayPort in and out, a four-port USB hub (with one charging port that provides up to 2 amps), and an audio line out. The one connection the Dell is missing is a DVI-D port. Dell includes a Mini-DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable and a USB 3.0 A-to-B upstream cable.

The Dell’s menu and power buttons are located underneath the bezel. While they’re not easy to see, it’s easy to use them to navigate through menus. Photo: Kyle Fitzgerald

The Dell has physical menu and power buttons located under the bottom bezel. This allows the bottom bezel to be a full 10 mm thinner—just 8 mm thick—than the one on the Z27n. The front edge of the bottom bezel is angled up a bit instead of the bottom being at a right angle to the screen, but it’s still difficult to see the buttons. The power button is illuminated and stands out from the menu buttons, and they all have a slightly faster response time than the HP’s touch buttons.

The BenQ GW2765HT has fewer features than the HP or Dell, and the picture quality isn't quite as good, but it costs $120 less.

If you want a big, beautiful display with a good stand but don’t need USB ports, DisplayPort daisy-chaining, or a thin bezel, we recommend the BenQ GW2765HT. At under $350, it’s one of the least expensive 27-inch IPS monitors that still has good display quality and features. Its overall quality, array of connections, and on-screen display aren’t as good as those of our pick or our runner-up, but it’s a good choice if you have a tighter budget or if our pick goes up in price or becomes unavailable.

In our tests, the GW2765HT’s minimum luminance of 88 cd/m² is a bit too bright—a great monitor should go down to 60 or below. This won’t matter unless you’re using your monitor in a super-dark environment, but we still prefer to have that flexibility.

In our tests, the monitor’s RGB balance heavily favored red (at the expense of blue) on its sRGB mode as we moved from pure black to pure white. Accordingly, it was less color accurate toward the white end of grayscale than the black end. Its average DeltaE 2000 value for its grayscales was 3.4, which is decent, but close the point at which you might notice something odd about some grayscales’ coloration. Its maximum DeltaE was 5.8—much higher than that of our pick, and high enough for the errors to be noticeable to the naked eye.

Red tended to overtake blue as we moved through a grayscale from black to white, which is why our DeltaE values slope upward instead of staying flat.

Most of the monitor’s colors are oversaturated, but that sounds worse than it is. You might notice a slightly redder tint to skin tones, but that’s about it.

Most of the monitor’s colors are oversaturated, but that sounds worse than it is. You might notice a slightly redder tint to skin tones, but that’s about it. The GW2762HT’s overall DeltaE value for our ColorChecker and saturations tests was right around 3.0—decent, but not as good as with our pick.

The accuracy of the individual colors on BenQ’s monitor is a bit wilder than our pick’s. However, this isn’t something you’re likely to notice very much in real-world use, since its average is still pretty good.

Unlike our pick, the GW2765HT comes with a VGA port in addition to its single HDMI 1.4 port, DVI-D port and DisplayPort 1.2 port. That’s great for people who still need an older connector, though adapters are cheap. (BenQ also includes a VGA cable, a HDMI cable, a DisplayPort cable, and a power cable with the monitor.)

The GW2765HT doesn’t let you daisy-chain a second monitor, since it has no DisplayPort out. It also doesn’t include a USB hub. But like our pick and runner-up, the BenQ’s stand can tilt, swivel, rotate, raise, and lower; it can even swivel around 315 degrees—the HP and Dell are limited to around 90 degrees of rotation.

Try as we might, we just couldn’t get used to the GW2765HT’s rear-facing buttons. We kept second-guessing which button we were actually pressing. Photo: David Murphy

The GW2765HT’s on-screen display is less responsive than our pick’s, and we hate that BenQ put the control buttons on the back of the monitor. This location makes the buttons a lot less intuitive to use, as it takes a little more time to confirm that you’re pressing the right button. The monitor’s options also aren’t as comprehensive as our pick’s. For example, you can’t select a specific color temperature—only a general “cooler” or “warmer” option.

Though the monitor’s built-in speakers aren’t great, they’re a decent stopgap for those who don’t have headphones or any other way to hear sound from their PC. The monitor also has both audio input and output, so you can connect better speakers directly to it, running audio over your PC’s HDMI or DisplayPort connection.

Though the GW2765HT isn’t as good as our primary pick, some of its flaws—no USB hub, a worse on-screen display, and no DisplayPort daisy-chaining—are balanced out by its low price. It’s not as beautiful a display as our pick, but it’s still good enough for everyday use.

What to look forward to

Dell has announced the S2718D Ultrathin display that the company is calling “the world’s overall thinnest monitor.” It will support high dynamic range (HDR) and USB-C. The new features does come with a price, though: At $700 when it’s released, the S2718D might end up over our price limit.

In conjunction with CES, Samsung announced two new 2560×1440 27-inch displays, the curved CH711 and the SH850. The CH711 will employ quantum dot technology and will hide connection cables inside the neck of the monitor’s stand. The SH850 will have DisplayPort connections and a stand with height, pivot, tilt, and swivel adjustments. The monitors should be available early in 2017.

Viewsonic’s VX2781-UC has a thin-bezel design that the company calls “frameless.” It will have a USB-C connection and an MSRP of $750.

The competition

Our previous pick, the Dell UltraSharp U2715H, is very close in quality and features to our pick and runner-up. It has two HDMI inputs as opposed to one and the USB ports are all on the back like on our pick, but its contrast ratio is a little worse than the U2717D. If you can find it for less than either of our picks, it’s still a good monitor, but it’s been discontinued, so it’s unclear how long you’ll be able to find one.

Viewsonic’s VX2778-SMHD is a good stripped-down option if the BenQ is sold out and you can find it cheap enough. The monitor has a thin bezel and sleek look, but the picture skews very blue, there’s no USB hub, and the stand only has a tilt adjustment. Make sure to check the price; we’ve seen it as low as $310.

Acer’s H277HU received an “Excellent” rating from PCMag.com, but as we found in our testing and they point out in their review, the color skews red and its stand is limited to tilt adjustments only. It is one of the first non-4K displays to come with a USB-C connection, but if that’s a requirement for you, we suggest waiting until more USB-C monitors come out this year.

NEC’s EA275WMi is an Editor’s Choice on PCMag.com, and for good reason. The monitor measures well (although not as well as the HP Z27n or the Dell U2717D) and with NEC’s ControlSync technology, up to 25 EA series monitors can be connected and controlled by one master monitor. But it’s almost 50 percent more expensive than our pick and not quite as accurate.

We brought the Nixeus NX-VUE27P in as a possible contender as a budget pick, but it fell short in the features department. There is no USB hub, and the stand on our unit, which is tilt only, had trouble holding its position.

Asus’ PB278Q is praised by AnandTech for its good contrast ratio and acceptable sRGB color accuracy. TFT Central said that the luminance range and color accuracy of this monitor’s PLS panel aren’t as good as a higher-quality IPS panel. It also has what TFT Central describes as “moderate” lag, and it uses pulse width modulation in its backlighting, which could irritate people who are more susceptible to screen flickering. We prefer the BenQ’s IPS panel and lower price.

Acer’s S277HK won an Editor’s Choice award from PCMag.com for its bezel-free design, accurate colors, and low input lag. Unlike our pick, it doesn’t have a DisplayPort output (for daisy-chaining more monitors); it doesn’t have any USB ports; and you can’t adjust its height (nor can you swivel or pivot the panel).

Dell’s Ultrasharp U2515H is a good 25-inch monitor, but we think 27 inches is a better size for a 2560×1440 monitor. For close to the price of the U2515H, you can get our budget 27-inch monitor pick, though it lacks USB 3.0 ports.

We also didn’t consider any of the various Korean import monitors you can purchase from places like eBay, because it’s a purchaser’s nightmare—the quality can vary, you might receive one with pixel issues and have no recourse for getting a new one, they require way too much research for a typical person (given how many different models exist), and they can tend to come with far fewer features (and limited on-screen configuration options, if any) than mainstream displays. We’d rather pay a little extra for some peace of mind.

Footnotes:

1. More-expensive monitors are typically just bigger, or they’re designed for professionals or gamers. Professional monitors are overkill unless you’re a graphic designer, filmmaker, or photographer. Gaming monitors can give you higher refresh rates and and smoother gameplay (if using G-Sync or FreeSync), but they can cost more, and the design can be…gamer-y. Jump back.

2. Most other modes you’ll find on a monitor—game, movie, reading, et cetera—are bad, and hurt image quality more than they help. A monitor’s sRGB mode (if one exists) is meant to match the monitor’s colors to the most common color standard in use nowadays. A manufacturer often uses a look-up table, or LUT, built into the monitor itself to ensure that the colors your computer wants displayed are the correct combination of red, blue, and green values on your screen. Jump back.

David Murphy wrote for The Wirecutter's (awesome) computer team, as well as many other tech websites and magazines. He is very tall, sings very low, and now works for Apple.

John Higgins writes about audio and video gear for The Wirecutter. He has worked for Home Theater Magazine, now Sound & Vision, for over 10 years. He also is a professional musician in Los Angeles and a freelance film-audio editor. In his spare time he plays hide-and-seek with his son.

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